Antarctica has been isolated from the other Southern Hemisphere continents for at least 28 million years (Myr). Model reconstructions of the last glacial maximum (LGM ~20 000 years BP) suggest that all low-lying coastal areas on Antarctica, and many sub-Antarctic islands were completely covered by ice.

Since the onset of mass production of plastics in the 1950’s the flux of plastics to the marine environment has been a growing problem (Cole at al., 2011), such that microplastic contamination of the oceans is now one of the world’s most pressing environmental concerns (Hurley et al., 2018).